Expander questions

[butterfly]

Hi

Got my lower expander (removable) today. I feel very bad. Lower fronts hurt bad.

I have a few questions.

I will have to turn the screw 3x every week. Is it better to turn it once a week for 3 steps or three times a week 1 step each? Ortho said both is possible.

What time of the day should I turn it? I suppose not before bedtime! Rather in the morning?

I am not supposed to eat with it. The plate covers the top of my teeth which also prevents me to bite off the upper brackets. How much time without the expander is ok? I don't want to damage the result by letting them relapse all the time.

I cannot speak at all. It sounds like a have food in my mouth. (For an important phone call I removed the expander...) Any ideas how to train speaking? Is there a special text for it? (English is fine). Will it improve?

Now about the pain. Will the pain ever stop? Every time I turn the screw it's like a new expander isn't it? 4 months sound pretty bad. How will I survive that!!! Sorry for venting a bit!

[OceanGirl]

Your expander sounds a lot like the one I had. You will get used to it, just give it time. I used to take out mine when I was on the phone. I think I would feel so self conscious of it when I was on the phone I would make myself lisp more. I think the longest I had my expander out was probably 4 hours but it was much later in the treatment. I wouldn't leave it out very long starting off. Just long enough to eat and clean the expander and put that thing back in your mouth again. I used to turn the key twice a week. I don't know but i think 1 turn 3xs a week would be easier them 3 turns 1x a week. I think with 3 at once you would feel the pressure a lot more. I had to wear mine for 9 months but stopped expanding after about 5 months. I found singing along with the radio while in the car helped my speech as well as practicing certain words. Just hang in there, it will get better, trust me!